Happy Halloween!
by Marohi
Summary: Halloween mayhem abounds as the Ronin Warriors help run a haunted house. (1998, Halloween Contest Submission)


Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  
By: Jinx&Jedi 

_Note from the Authoresses:_   
_In case you haven't read our previous stories, we thought that we'd let you know who the extra characters are. Rahne Sanada (pronounced 'Rain') is Ryo's twin sister. Alex Koma is Anubis's eldest son and a telepath. This is a really quick story we wrote in about four hours._   
_Enjoy!_

***  Kento scuds down the hallway on his way to lunch. A path automatically clears for him as he runs through the press of students gabbing in the hallway . Everyone knew better than to get between Kento Rei-Faun and lunch.   
He bursts through the door leading to the courtyard, and tears across the leaf strewn grass, feeling the sunlight warming his shoulders.   
Today was a Fun Day, no real class! Which meant that everyone ate together today! And it was Halloween to boot!   
Rahne Sanada and Cye Mouri are already sitting on the picnic blanket, enjoying their lunch. Kento doesn't bother to sneak up on her since she's deaf; he just tears across the grass to them.   
Grabbing Rahne's sugar cookie from her hand on the fly, Kento tears right past them. Rahne jumps to her feet immediately and chases him down to get her dessert back.   
Cye had made Halloween sugar cookies last night; frosted ones. Kento takes a healthy bite out of it and hands her back the tiny sliver. She hands it back to him with the classic Sanada Nasal Snarl.   
He jogs back around and grabs Cye in a headlock. Cye grunts, wriggling in an attempt to break free. Cye tosses his lunch sack to Rahne to keep it from getting eaten.   
Rahne peeks in it and looks at Cye pitifully, "Aquaman, can I have one of yours, since Pillsbury ate mine?"   
"Sure!" Cye looks up and grunts, while trying to get away from Kento. "One cookie versus my whole lunch. That's a hard choice, Rahney!"   
Rahne watches the wrestling match, wondering when Cye and Kento would grow out of WWF Vs nWo. Probably never.   
Rowen Hashiba walks towards her with a definite swagger, and smiling a wide triumphant smile.   
He hugs her and kisses her cheek. The school had a "hands-off" policy, but no one bothered to enforce it if you were careful.   
"Lovely cologne, Ro'. Formaldehyde or other?"   
Rowen smiles at her a little secretively. She kisses his cheek and refastens his uniform collar for him so he doesn't get in trouble. "Just a little prank." He murmurs, running his hand appreciatively over the "fish-tail" braid in her hair.   
"Hey, guys!" Ryo Sanada yells, tucking his soccer ball under one arm.   
Kento finally tires of wrestling Cye and drops down beside Rowen and Rahne.   
Sage Date and Alex Koma jog in, looking over their shoulders as if they expect something to jump out at them.   
"Hey, guys! Finally managed to ditch the groupies?" Kento calls over to Sage.   
"You would not believe it! Girls love him! He's got their attention the moment they see 'em!" Sage exclaims, clapping Alex one on the arm.   
Alex sits down on the perimeter of their group, too shy to feel comfortable around them.   
Ryo starts laughing. Most people asked where in Japan they dug up a redhead when they first saw him. It was hard not to get noticed when Alex was around.   
Alex looks up from his sandwich and sheet music for Phantom of the Opera, and says quietly. "You paint a red bulls-eye on your skull and you'll see attention, too."   
"Wow! The Ogre speaks!" Kento laughs as Alex pulls his Disc-man out and plugs himself back into his music.   
Sage sits down and pulls out his notebook. In it he finally has the results of their auditions.   
"Alright! Haunted house time!" Cye chortles, leaning forward interestedly.   
"Lets keep it short and sweet. Everyone got their desired parts." Sage says, flipping his notebook closed.   
"Cool!" Kento bellows, rubbing his hands together. He drapes his arm over Rahne and Rowen's shoulders. "The three of us're the star attractions!"   
Rahne rolls her eyes, and takes a big bite out of the replacement cookie. "I think the sugars getting to his head."   
"Are you sure that's all . . .?" Cye asks suggestively, raising his eyebrows.   
Rahne swallows the mouthful and squeezes her eyes shut. "Cye! That's gross!"   
"Not as gross as Ryo's gonna look as Jason!"   
Alex looks up and pulls one earphone away form his ear. "Will someone tell me what's so great about 'Jason'?"   
Kento leaps to his feet, and stares at him. "Man, you ain't lived till you see Friday the 13th!"   
Alex shrugs and dives back into his music. Sage starts to laugh as he hears the melody of Phantom of the Opera.   
"Looks like Ogre's taking his part seriously." Ryo remarks: Alex was the resident musician, so he **would** take it seriously.   
"Hey, Cye? Whatcha do with your part? The Creature from the Black Lagoon is really old." Rowen asks, twirling a lock of Rahne's hair around his finger.   
"I get to swim around underwater. Then whenever I want, I pop up and scare people. That's not old!" Cye says, getting defensive.   
Sage grins as everyone's gazes turn in his direction. Rahne's look is more than a little excited. **He** got to be "Darth Vader" and Rahne was a Star Wars nut.   
Kento leans back and crows, "This's gonna ROCK!"   
After school they meet at the old mill on the edge of town. It had been used for a Haunted House for quite some time. Sage had gotten everyone an audition to play in it. It was one of the highest paying temporary jobs in the area, and it was incredibly fun to work. Everyone starts to explore the place.   
Alex immediately goes upstairs and runs a reverent hand over the ancient pipe-organ; while Rowen, Kento and Rahne check out the Mad-Scientist's laboratory.   
Sage, Cye, and Ryo make a beeline for the basement to check out their digs. "It's gonna be soooo fun!" Cye giggles as he checks the water temp in the man-made pool.   
Sage nods absently as he check the acoustics and special lighting in his chamber. Rowen and Rahne had made a special repeating soundtrack for his act and he had created a special light set for this room. Perfect!   
Ryo begins to climb around inside the extra-wide wall, grinning absolutely wickedly.   
From high above comes the sound of someone warming up the pipe-organ. "Well, looks like Alex's gonna do the attention getter."   
Suddenly music explodes from above as Alex unleashes a punishing rendition of Phantom of the Opera on the pipe organ. Someone's also playing an amplified drum set.   
"Think that'll get peoples' attention?!" Ryo yells over the music, grinning.   
"He needs to slow it down!!!" Sage yells. "It sounds like a rock song! It's supposed to be creepy!"   
Almost immediately the song slows down to a more deliberate pace. The flourishes get a little more pronounced as the drum gets quieter.   
"Show off." Sage mutters, heading back for his chamber. "Don't wear it out then!"   
"(Yes, boss.)" Wafts Alex's voice eerily to their minds. The music ends in one more flourish and echoes to a stop. Then the stupid little seven note "shave and a haircut" tune from Roger Rabbit echoes through the building. The other people in the building start to chuckle dryly at the bad, old joke.   
Ryo shakes his head and silently tells Alex to cap the mental fireworks. The last thing they needed was someone to find out he wasn't quite human.   
They head back upstairs to check out their costumes. Rahne grimaces at how many labcoats she's going to go through before the evening is up.   
Kento pokes his head in the costume room, "Guys, is it dinnertime yet?" He whines, rubbing his stomach.   
"In a little bit, Kento." Sage replies, busy fiddling with the adjustments on his mask.   
"BUT, I'm starving!"   
Rahne offers him a granola bar, which he downs in a couple bites. "Um . . . guys, he's **scarring** me."   
"Oh." Rowen says, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist, then in a mock-Dracula voice he says. "I feeling a little hungry myself. Is that some chocolate on your neck?"   
"NO HICKEYS! NO HICKEYS!" Rahne shrieks, wriggling out of his arms. Rowen instead turns her around and kisses her deeply.   
>Flash - click   
Sage tears out of the room with the Polaroid camera, laughing wickedly. Rowen disengages from the kiss a little late and deliberates how he was going to murder Sage.   
Sage waves the picture back and forth as it starts to come in. That would be priceless to donate to the yearbook. Everyone knew those two were an item.   
"SAGE, I'M STARVIN'!" Kento moans, right on his tail.   
Sage takes his wallet out of his pocket, and hands Kento enough money to pay for everyone's dinner. "Get EVERYONE something to eat. To go. Bring it back here! Alex goes with you."   
"Alex! What about Cye?!"   
Sage gives him a sideways look. "That way there's someone who can stop you if you decide to devour out dinners." 

***  Sage finishes his dinner and looks back at Alex who's watching Kento devour his "Big Montana" sandwich from Arby's. Plus a large curly fry and a huge glass of Coke.   
The quiet, young warlord has a absolutely priceless look on his face. He still couldn't believe that Kento ate as much as he did.   
Of course, combine that with Rowen, who actually eats almost as much as Kento, and it's even more priceless.   
Alex shakes his head and forces himself to look away. He washes his hands and goes back to getting into his costume.   
"Y'know, you look more like Tux from Sailor Moon than anything remotely scary." Sage remarks, slipping the hard mantel and chest piece over his head.   
Alex slips the old victorian-style tuxedo jacket on, and buttons it up. Then with a sweep, he fastens the long billowing cape onto his shoulders. "Totally different atmosphere." He mumbles, running his hands through his hair. "Tux didn't drop chandeliers on people or hang them with a lasso."   
"Really?" Sage says sarcastically. "Help me with this cape, will ya'?"   
Alex helps him fasten the cape onto the hard plastic mantel. Then he smoothes his hair back and slips the Phantom's mask over his face.   
Kento winces as Rahne rapidly applies the dark green professional makeup. She tugs the prosthetic forehead piece over his hair, and carefully stick it down with the little bit of spirit gum on his real forehead. Finally she applies a little bit of spirit gum to his neck and sticks the bolts on either side of Kento's neck.   
"There you go, Frankie!" Rahne says, clapping his shoulder.   
Kento takes a couple temporary tattoos that look like stitches and applies them to his wrists.   
"Yuli's gonna flip when he's sees me!" Kento gives her a absolutely hideous grin.   
Cye emerges from the guys dressing room, finally finished putting on the specially made wet-suit. It looks appallingly fake, but no one's gonna to notice since the light's dim down there.   
Ryo's having too much fun making himself up to look like Jason, like the costume was hard. Hockey mask and torn clothing draped with the appropriate gore.   
Rowen's hogging the mirror, busy fixing his hair so that it stuck out in wild spikes in every which way. Lastly he sticks on his glasses. Instant mad-scientist. Then he helps his girlfriend into her role as his beautiful, dutiful - and doomed - assistant.   
Sage tosses his hair back and slips the complete Darth Vader mask over his head. Alex helps him fasten the snaps on either side of it, since the bulky gloves wouldn't allow for that.   
Sage can easily see out of the mask's tinted lenses, though it's going to get a little stuffy. Alex hands him the red-tinted sword.   
"That thing gonna look like it's for real?" Kento asks, trying to tie the huge elevator shoes on his feet.   
"It should. IF Sage got the lighting right." Rahne states, finishing up with the last curl and unplugging the curling iron.   
"I did, I DID!" Sage blurts, defending himself from the critic.   
"Well, this is it." Cye turns around so Ryo can help him get the mask over his head.   
"You got room for the regulator in that thing?" Ryo asks, hefting the scuba tank onto Cye's thin shoulders. It too was camouflaged. Cye hopes intensely that nobody gets bold and farts around with it.   
"Yeah. It's gonna be a trip getting down to the water, but I think I can manage."   
Everyone was ready, and it's almost show-time. The people are already crowding the ticket booths and lining up at the door. 

***  Alex was the first one of the Ronins to be reached by the crowd.   
Sage braces himself in his dark alcove as Alex fires up the pipe-organ and belts out the theme. People gasp and mutter, startled by his spooky and dignified entrance. They hadn't even seen him until the pipe-organ started playing. A wlof-man dashes across a catwalk over peoples heads, evoking several shrieks from girls.   
He had about five minutes until they reached him. Three was Alex's performance, and the two was the trip down the hallway where they'd meet Ryo and eventually him.   
The music ends right on cue, and Alex vanishes behind his pipe-organ.   
The guide leads them down the black-light lit staircase and into a dark hallway.   
One. Two.   
People begin screaming as Ryo, and the other actors ranging from Freddy to the dude from Scream, reach out at them from the windows and cracks in the walls. Sage could just about read the grin on Ryo's face from the screams.   
Then he was on. Everything went silent, except for the sound of strange breathing. Then Sage steps out slowly. He raises the sword as he taps the walkie-talkies switch.   
The lights come up perfectly. And so does the sound track.   
People scream and run as Darth Vader chases them with a lit lightsaber. Sage tries to keep from laughing. This had to be the least scary part of the whole haunted house. But Alex and Ryo had warmed them up nicely. Some people are just playing along though, he can see that.   
Then his parts over disappointingly fast.   
Sage leaves through another door and meets Ryo and Alex on the other side. They run across the catwalks to reach the ones over the biggest room.   
The people end up walking down a long, dim hallway, and are comforted by the lack of nasties.   
Everyone's calming down now. Just what they wanted.   
Slowly hydraulics lift Rowen and Rahne up in a laboratory setting. Rowen's asking Rahne for all sorts of sophisticated, official sounding instruments in a low mutter. She obeys dutifully, even though she probably can't even understand what he's saying. All sorts of electrical sounds echo through the room.   
The hydraulics lift them up even higher, past floor level; the electric sounds intensify. Then the hydraulics take them back down to floor level.   
Rowen suddenly screams maniacally: "IT'S ALIVE!!! IT'S ALIVE!!!!!"   
Kento sits up, and supposedly breaks his bonds. Rahne performs her only line: A blood-curdling scream.   
He starts moaning and chases the girl, who mysteriously has time to open the gate.   
Rahne belts out another scream. Everyone starts trying to get away from the monster.   
Alex falls over to his side in a fit of giggles. Ryo clamps a hand over his mouth, trying to keep from laughing himself. That moan sounded like Kento was on the . . .   
"(Ryo! I'll go off the deep end if you think it!!!)" Alex howls in his mind.   
'Jason' grins evilly - . . .jon.   
'Darth' clamps his heavy glove over the Phantom's mouth suppressing the giggle fit. Then Ryo looks Alex in the eyes and thinks. _'Laugh. Don't giggle.'_   
Alex nods then, Sage releases the hand so Alex can laugh. It comes out a deep, dark, spooky laugh, like his father used to do.   
Ryo helps Alex to his feet. Together they run to intercept the people, who are trying to get away from Frankie, who looks more interested in getting the pretty assistant who's back on the hydraulic lift. Rowen waits until Kento's back on before pulling back on the lever that operates the lift.   
As it sinks below the floor level, Rahne belts out a final scream.   
They duck away from the crowd and race down the spiral staircase. Frankie did manage to get Rahne after all. His hand's over Rahne's mouth. She laying on the table, her face red from her own giggle fit.   
She gets over it in time for Rowen to liberally sprays the front of her with stage blood.   
Then she lays across the table in a limp heap as Rowen shuts the lights off. Soon the people start to come through the area. They cross the bridge over Cye's pool. Suddenly he leaps up just high enough to make a swipe at peoples' legs.   
They scream and try to get away from him. He swims under the bridge and slaps his hands against the metal.   
The people run, trying to get away from him. Cye surfaces again to find himself face to face with Yuli in a black ninja costume. Yuli stares at him a long time before he places a small hand on his face and pushes playfully. His loaded trick-or-treat bag swings heavily.   
Cye lets go so he falls backward into the drink. He was wondering when Mia was going to bring the rug-rat.   
Kento begins to walk stiff-leggedly at the people. He grabs Yuli and starts to walk off with him, back to the stair case where the others are waiting. Yuli giggles and stuffs a candy bar in Frankie's pocket.   
Frankenstein immediately stops his kidnapping attempt and tosses Yuli lightly to Darth and the Phantom. The Phantom tickles Yuli as they set him down, evoking a squeal from him.   
There's more zombies just past where Rahne's laying on the table, people shriek and run to get past. She isn't quite able to keep the silly grin off her face.   
The group had reached the end of the tour through the Haunted House. The cast meets at the exit to wish everyone a "Happy Halloween." 

***  "Six times!" Sage announces as everyone changes out of their costumes. Rahne was busy helping Kento get off all his make-up. Not an easy task.   
Cye's boxers are hanging on the door-handle, drying a little before he has to stuff them in the laundry bag to take home. Fortunatly everyone had remembered to bring extra comfortable clothes to go home in. Cye emerges from the changing room, finally dry and warm.   
Sage rubs the bruise on his leg where some little brat had decided to prove he was a tough little shit to his little friends.   
Alex looks half-comatose on the worn-out sofa. Alex, Ryo, Cye, and himself had the easiest clean-up. Just take off the costumes.   
Rowen's busy washing his hair in the sink, trying to get the layers of gel and hairspray from his hair. The heat from the lights flattened it in no time, meaning he had to go back and stick it back up.   
Rahne still had tons of make-up plastered on, while the fetching curls that had framed her face had vanished long ago. As the night had progressed, she just layered more make-up on as the old got dull and made her look frumpish.   
Kento winces as Rahne finally gets the caked green make-up mixed with old spirit gum off his face.   
"Hey, guys! Can we still go trick-or-treating?" Kento asks as his face finally comes clean.   
Rahne leans over the sink in the ladies'-room and scrubs her face. The water becomes a revolting mess of running makeup. Finally she looks up at the mirror and fails to see any more make-up.   
Cye looks back at his Best Friend as he makes a trip for the mens'-room. "Kento, reality check here. It's almost midnight!"   
"No. C'mon, I think there's supposed to be some good movies on tonight." Sage grumbles, wanting nothing more than to go to bed.   
"I think Simpsons're on." Rowen remarks, loading his gym bag with the clothes he brought.   
They go home, and watch scary movies. Alex goes upstairs for bed not even half-way through the first movie. Rahne follows suit at the end of the second.   
Soon, it's just the five of them still awake for the movies.   
The movie's getting to the good part. It's a good, scary one. Cye, sitting on the arm of the sofa, hugs his knees as the best part approaches. Ryo leans forward in anticipation.   
Someone suddenly slaps their hand on the back of the sofa as something else roars.   
Cye shrieks, falling off the arm. Kento launches the popcorn in shock, Ryo cries out. Sage and Rowen, who're on the floor on two large bean bags, stumble to their feet, their faces white.   
Mia runs from the room, laughing; followed by a very smug White Blaze. 


End file.
